The invention relates to a towbar head for a towbar-guided industrial truck. Control elements for controlling various functions of the industrial truck, such as control elements for propulsion or for a lifting device are located on the towbar head. The control elements are effectively connected to signal generators to generate electrical control signals.
Towbar-guided industrial trucks are realized, for example, in the form of electrically propelled low-lift trucks or high-lift trucks which can be realized in the form of trucks where the operator walks alongside or trucks which have a driver's seat. Towbar heads of the type described above generally have control elements for the propulsion system, the lifting device, an auxiliary lifting device, a horn and a safety switch. The control elements listed above are connected to signal generators, by means of which on/off control signals, multi-stage control signals or stepless control signals are generated.
For example, DE 44 44 772 discloses the installation of a plurality of microswitches to generate on/off control signals on a common circuit board. On this towbar head, a potentiometer to generate a stepless control signal for propulsion is realized in the form of a component that is separated from the circuit board. In this case, the commercial potentiometer used takes up a significant amount of space. There are no additional signal generators for stepless or multi-stage control signals. Thus, the microswitches used have a large number of moving mechanical parts, and therefore have a limited useful life.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to make available a simple towbar head which is less susceptible to wear and is characterized by the ability to perform a plurality of functions, a high degree of integration and a small number of components.